Tom Barry

'Guerilla Days in Ireland' is the extraordinary story of the Irish War of Independence and the fight between two unequal forces, which ended in the withdrawal of the British from twenty-six counties. ... show more

'Guerilla Days in Ireland' is the extraordinary story of the Irish War of Independence and the fight between two unequal forces, which ended in the withdrawal of the British from twenty-six counties. Seven weeks before the Truce of July 1921, the British presence in County Cork consisted of 8,800 front line infantry troops, 1,150 Black & Tan soldiers, 540 Auxiliaries, 2,080 machine gun corps, artillery and other units - a total of over 12,500 men. Against these British forces stood the Irish Republican Army whose flying columns never exceeded 310 riflemen in the whole of the county. These flying columns were small groups of dedicated Volunteers, severely commanded and disciplined. Constantly on the move, their paramount objective was merely to exist, to strike when conditions were favourable and to avoid disaster at all costs. 'In Guerilla Days in Ireland' Tom Barry describes the setting up of the West Cork flying column, its training and its plan of campaign.